Thursday, July 13, 2023

Mayne, Tongi appear at All-Stars

By Tim Clinton

This week's Major League Baseball All-Star festivities had a distinctly Federal Way flavor twice.

Thomas Jefferson graduate Kenny Mayne served as the master of ceremonies for the Celebrity Softball Game that took place Saturday night and Decatur's Iam Tongi sang the National Anthem ahead of Monday's Home Run Derby.

Mayne recently retired after a long career at the ESPN cable television network.

He has been a frequent Celebrity Softball Game player starting when it was last in Seattle in 2001, but he also retired from that to do the public address narration this year instead.

Mayne was a former quarterback for the TJ Raiders who went on to play for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas before starting at ESPN.

Tongi is originally from Hawaii but now lives in Federal Way and he won this year's American Idol competition as a singer.

He gave a stirring rendition of The Star Spangled Banner before the Home Run Derby, but forgot to remove his Seattle Mariners cap for the peformance.

Tongi later appologized for the incident on social media, attributing it to his nervousness about performing before so many people.



No comments:

Post a Comment

A Look Ahead

By Tim Clinton High schools Boys basketball  Todd Beamer hosts North Creek of Bothell for a 6 p.m. Monday game that was originally scheduled...